Monday, 16 December 2013

Albion Fracked?

Convoy on Barton Moss Road 13/12/13

There’s a
war going on in Albion. You may not have noticed it yet, but it might be coming
your way soon. The enemy is
fracking, an unconventional fossil fuel bad for the planet as a whole and
whichever corner of it they drilling in particular.

The
government is broadly in favour, the media broadly ignorant and the City
cautiously supportive. But a grass roots movement of eco-warriors and concerned
locals threatens to upset their plans.

Camps are
springing up across the land. It started in Lancashire in May, with 300 people
at Camp Frack. Sussex then did it in the balmy days of July. Damh the Bard was
there, and so where thousands of others, having fun in the sun. But us hard
northern types in Greater Manchester doing it in December.

As I write
their camp in Barton Moss is awaiting the arrival of the drilling rig. They are currently sorted
for baked beans and pasta sauce but running low on fresh coffee and beer. So,
situation critical.

It’s Oil Jim, But Not As We Know It

Shale gas,
the stuff they’re looking for in Lancashire; shale oil, the stuff they were
trying to get at

Boris and I at Barton Moss

Balcombe; and coal seam gas, which is what they currently
claim to be looking for in Manchester, all come under the category of ‘unconventional
oil’.

The
processes are slightly different, but basically it’s about getting oil that is
not stored in porous rock. Instead of just sticking in a pipe and sucking it
out, fracking involves pumping water and chemicals into the ground to force the
rock apart to free the hydrocarbons trapped within.

There is air
pollution, noise, gas flaring and lots of lorries. It requires large amounts of
water being brought in and large amounts of waste being taken out. Under the
ground bore holes can crack and previously impermeable rock can shatter.
Methane can end up where it’s not wanted; in the atmosphere, in the ground
water and in people.

The Rebel Alliance

Well there had to be drummers

People
opposed to fracking generally get there from two different directions.

For
environmentalists fracking is another unwanted fossil fuel. Possibly it is one
of the worst, as leakage of the potent greenhouse gas methane from the fracking
sites may mean it causes more Climate Change than coal.

For people
with a fracking well in their back garden, the concerns are the noise, air
pollution, vehicle traffic and the possibility of methane contamination of the
water table.

At times it
can seem like the people who go round supporting wind turbines and those who
oppose them have got together and decided the one thing they both don’t like is
fracking. Best of all it’s a grass roots movement. Some big NGOs have almost
given up, as everything they would have wanted to do has already been done by
self organising local groups.

That makes a
powerful movement, and one that is global. In Australia fracking in Queensland
was resisted so strongly the other states either banned it outright or
inflicted a punitive regulatory regime. In France and Bulgaria campaigns have
led to indefinite bans.

But the real
question is, can we win here?

I think the
answer is a great big yes.

Here’s why.

Jittery Markets

On the fence over fracking

People don't frack for the fun of it. This is about making money.

The thing to remember is these aren't big companies by the standards
we're used to. They hope to get big, but they're not there yet. Centrica's £60 million
deal with John Browne’s Cuadrill would barely have been enough to pay the board
its bonus in the days he was head of BP.

They are hoping to make megabucks, but first they need other people's
money.

Industry consultants KPMG, who don’t usually see eye-to-eye with
environmentalists, are sceptical. They talk about "tremendous
reputational and regulatory hurdles", "high costs",
"financial risk", and "extended development
periods". This is all industry code for “careful you don’t lose your shirt”.

Governments, as we know to our cost, can be incredibly pig headed and
can stick with bad decisions forever rather than appear weak. The City though
can change its mind in an instant. It wasn't John Major's government that gave
in to Greenpeace over the Brent Spar - they were getting ready to send in the
SBS - but Shell which threw in the towel.

Worried MPs

The risk management company Control Risks wrote a report on fracking in
which they note "activist groups are well-organised (I guess they’ve never been to one of our
meetings) and actively network internationally” (they must have heard of
Boris) and a government which is "is cautious or divided in its
approach towards unconventional gas development".

Put together they worry:

Convoy enters Igas site on Barton Moss 13/12/13

"Protest
activity in the UK can be expected to persist as new sites are targeted for
exploration, although the composition of issues and concerns will vary by
locality. While these demonstrations may only be marginally successful at
physically disrupting drilling – Cuadrilla was delayed by just a week at
Balcombe – their real impact will be felt in the politics of shale. Tory
backbenchers viewing fracking as an electoral liability is a greater success
for the anti-fracking movement than blockading a project site."

So they see us pesky protesters as a big threat and the Countryside
Alliance supporting Conservative MPs of the Stockbroker belt as the weakest
link.

Happy Campers

Guinevere Rose Ditchburn

So here's the challenge for us.
Taking a group of rowdy, anti-capitalist anarchists, design a campaign to
appeal to both a shrewd stockbroker and a Tory backwoodsman.

Should be easy.

However, in case you’re stuck for ideas, Control Risks has some for you.

Direct
action is intended to draw media attention to the anti-fracking movement,
motivate the anti-fracking opposition, and physically disrupt operations.
Project site blockades, in particular, have emerged as a favoured low-cost,
high-impact tactic, especially in the UK.